Greg Hinz On Politics

CPS tweaks rules for selective-enrollment high schools

Trying to get your kid into Walter Payton, Whitney Young or any of Chicago's eight other selective-enrollment high schools?

Chicago Public Schools today released the latest tweaks in the selection process for the schools — which last year drew six applicants for every available slot — and there are some things that parents will want to know.

The decision by CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett comes after the superintendent of the city's Catholic schools last month strongly criticized the proposed changes, saying they put Catholic school students at a disadvantage in a variety of ways.

The biggest new thing is that CPS will use only one test to gauge student development for application: the Northwestern Evaluation Association's Measures of Academic Progress, or NWEA MAP, as it's usually known.

Current CPS students will take the test at their school this spring. Non-CPS kids, like those who went to private elementary schools, will take it between Sept. 6 and Oct. 11, on Saturdays at locations that are yet to be announced, with math on one day and reading on another. There will be no charge for the test, but applicants no longer will be able to substitute other national tests equivalent to the Illinois Standard Achievement Test, or ISAT.

In a statement, Ms. Byrd-Bennett said adopting "a uniform assessment" will provide all students "equal opportunity" to find a place at hard-to-crack schools. CPS decided on NWEA MAP because it is aligned with rigorous Common Core standards, she added.

The new test will count for up to a third of the score given to eighth graders applying to selective-enrollment high schools. But to even qualify for a second test that will be given to all applicants, junior will have to score at least in the 24th percentile on NWEA MAP.

One other note of interest. If the kid scores badly the first time because of "adverse" circumstances, he or she can take the test again in the spring. But the spring grade will be final, even if it's lower than the fall result.

Got that?

The competition may become a tad easier when pending expansions at Jones and Payton high schools are complete. But that's at least a couple of years away.